126 
PORE ST AND STREAM. 
[Aug. i6, 1902. 
sake of distinguishing we call electricity. Electricity sur- 
rounding a bar of iron will produce a magnet, with all the 
phenomena of north and south poles. The earth itself 
has long since been regarded as a great magnet, with 
the same phenomena of polarity. Currents of ethereal 
vibrations moving either from its rotation, or some other 
means of transmission, produce this great magnet; and 
if our little pinch of filings are sensitive to it, and they 
are, is it beyond the bounds of science, or rather nature, 
that the lonely wildfowl far up in the depths of darkness 
should be possessed of the same sensitiveness, and perhaps 
a far keener one? Is it not possible that they may be 
.'gensible to this north and south producing vibration which 
guides him forward unerringly to the pole? 
Why is not this an explanation of the powers bl a car- 
rier pigeon? The little receiver within his brain sensible 
to the ethereal waves which are producing the polarity of 
the earth instantly teaches him in what direction he is 
crossing, and upon being liberated from a distant point, 
his mind teaches him to follow the reverse. 
There is nothing supernatural or beyond the bounds of 
reason in believing that the brains of some animals should 
contain elements as delicate as the common glass tube 
filled with filings, and when is added to this _ nerve .sensi- 
. tiveness to feel the changed conditions of this little brain 
receiver, and the mental intelligence to translate it into 
actual knowledge, it seems almost simple that these bu'ds 
^ who actually do from practice know north from south, 
. should be possessed of the same function wliich can be as 
readily acted upon by the Hertzian wave, as the little tube 
of filings which is visible to our eye. 
The little metal particles which in the trembling mag- 
netic needle feel the force of these Hertzian waves, and 
as a result point unerringly north and south, has no brain 
to translate its sensitiveness or feeling into intelligence, 
and is made up of an arrangement of chemical elements 
far less wonderful than animal brain matter ; but it proves 
that there is a mechanical power which a certain arrange- 
ment of chemical atoms is sensible to, and why not this 
same mechanical power acting upon the brain of a bird. 
Take the case of the turkey buzzard. The sky may be 
dear and cloudless, giving a range of human vision for 
many miles around, with none of these animals sho\Ymg 
above the horizon, but throw upon the ground, even in a 
remote spot, a piece of decaying fish or other animal 
matter, and the quickness with which these birds will 
■arrive upon it from all directions is startling; a common 
explanation for which is that they smell the food from 
' ■, . afar, but I do not think this explanation was ever made 
• • .without an imspoken feeling of doubt ; it serves for a 
■ popular explanation, but not a scientific one. 
It is well known that putrifying animal matter will 
give off a phosphorescent glow. If all light is the result 
• of ethereal vibrations, why not this phosphorescent glow? 
And simply because it produces no effect upon the retina 
of our eye, except feebly in the night time, is hardly a 
reason that some physical formation of the eye or other 
" "'function of the buzzard, should not receive a definite im- 
pression from the ether vibrations given of¥ by the mass 
of decaying material. 
■. We all know the wonderful provisions nature has made 
"in plant life, carrying the pollen from_ flower to flower, 
- - sometimes by the passing breeze, sometimes on the leg of 
a bee or other insect, and doubtless in other ways which 
■ -we know nothing of ; and given the fact which is now 
. = established beyond a doubt, that various phenomena. 
• which do truly occur in nature, are constantly throwing 
■,'off copiously these imperceptible ether waves, why is it 
impossible, that in the great design of nature some animal 
■: life should be sensible to them ? Human beings were given 
"":a mind to investigate and make use of these phenomena 
- -of nature, but the dumb animal must do it through 
his inherent instinct, and I believe he does, 
Mosquitos and Music. 
Letter to the MdUor of The London Times. 
Sir:. I find the folowing In a recent scientific pubH- 
cation: , t 
"Mr. Brennan, of the Public Works Department, Ja- 
' maica,'is responsible for the following interesting com- 
• munication: 'You will pardon me for drawing your at- 
tention to the fact, if you have not already noticed it, 
that the mosquitoes (I do not know if every variety) 
will respond to such sounds as a continuous whoop or 
'■ hum. I have tried the experience lately and find swarms 
\gather around my head when I make a continuous whoop. 
■ -There may be, however, some particular note or pitch 
"-'that would be more attractive to them.' This observa- 
' tion would afford an interesting subject for experiment." 
In 1878 I made and erected an apparatus for lighting 
the- grounds of the Grand Union Hotel at Saratoga 
' - Springs, N. Y., by electricity. The lamps employed were 
""" ' i-athei- large and each was provided with its own dynamo 
• t machine. One of the lamps worked something like a 
■ telephone and gave out a note, the pitch of which corre- 
- sponded exactly with the strips on the commutator pass- 
' ing under the brushes of the dynamo machine. Some 
• ' ■ of the other lamps would occasionally give off a musical 
■ note, but only for a few minutes at a time. With this 
• one, however, the note was practically constant, and no 
■ adjustment of the carbons had the least effect upon it. 
One evening, while examining this lamp, I found that 
-.- •'•■^everything in the immediate vicinity was covered with 
' ' small insects. They did not appear to be attempting to 
■ . , get into the globe, but rather into the box that was giv- 
■ •^ "'ing off the musical note. Upon a close examination of 
rtisis flvgigeMsems L^found that they were all the same kind— 
-gsi .f^f;; mosquitoes, and, what is more, all male mosquitoes. 
Although there were certainly 200 times as many female 
mosquitoes on the grounds as males, I was unable to 
■ find a single female mosquito that was attracted in the 
■ least by the sound. 
When the lamps were started in the beginning of the 
evening, every male mosquito would at once turn in the 
direction of the lamp, and as it were face the music, and 
• then fly off in the direction from which the sound pro- 
' " ceeded. It then occurred to me that the two little feath- 
ers on the head of the male mosquito acted as ears, that 
• they vibrated in unison with the music of the lamp, and 
as the pitch of the note was almost identical with the 
buzzing of the female mosquito, the male took the music 
10 be the buzzing of the female. I am neither a naturalist 
nor an entomologist, still I was much interested in this 
pecuHar and interesting phenomenon. I wrote down a 
full account of it at the time and sent it to a scientific 
paper, but it appeared to be too stupid to find a place 
in that particular publication. However, it now appears 
that others have stumbled across the same thing. I would 
advise Mr. Brennan to continue his experiments, espe- 
cially as regards the sex of the mosquitoes which are 
attracted by a musical note. The male mosquito is much 
smaller than the female of the same species, never bites, 
but feeds upon vegetation, and is easily distinguished 
on account of two little feathers on the head, which re- 
semble to some extent the antlers of a stag. 
; A very interesting experiment may be easily made 
in the following manner: Obtain a tuning fork which 
gives a musical note as much like the hum of the female 
mosquito as possible. If you strike this fork within 
twenty feet of a male mosquito he will at once turn about, 
face the music, and erect the two little feathers on his 
head, something after the manner of a cockatoo. 
Yours faithfully, 
Hiram S. Maxim. 
§Hni^ §dg Httil §mu 
— ^ — 
Proprietors of shooting resorts will find it profitable to advertise' 
them in Forest and Stream. 
Potholes and Glacial Action* 
Editor Forest and Stream: 
I am at a loss to understand how your correspondent, 
Von W. (Forest and Stream Aug. 2) got the impression 
that I had connected pot holes and glacial action together. 
As I think I referred to both in the same communication, 
it may be that I confused the two so as to cause this mis- 
take. " But my impression is that I mentioned the pot 
holes as occurring in North Carolina, and the glacial ac- 
tion as being shown in northern Wisconsin and Michigan. 
There has never been any glacial action below the old 
Mason and Dixon line, and we have none of the grooved 
rocky surfaces, such as I mentioned as occurring in 
northern Michigan, nor have I ever seen any pot holes 
elsewhere so well developed as I have found them in 
the rapid mountain streams. Pot holes cannot be a result 
of glacial action, only of water rapidly flowing and whirl- 
ing. Since my communication I have discovered an im- 
mense number of these holes, in embryo, as may be said, 
on the surface of the bare granite rocks, down the slight 
slopes of which on the rounded surfaces the rain has 
flowed, following the slight depressions, and making min- 
iature cascades as the stream runs from one to another 
of these, has hollowed out small bowls two, three, or more 
inches in diameter, and half an inch or more deep, all 
along the course of the little streams. In some places 
these bowls are two or more inches in diameter, and an 
inch or less in depth; biit some are six or eight inches 
in diameter and three deep, showing what a long time 
has passed since the beginning of them. Necessarily in 
the course of swift mountain streams, the wear of the 
rock in this same way must have been much more rapid, 
and thus in the beds of the .streams, but mostly in the 
swift rapids and the courses of the waterfalls, these holes 
are much larger and deeper. But it seems very clear that 
the grinding out of these holes has been done by the ac- 
tion of the water whirling in eddies, for the power, and 
the gravel or larger stones as the implements, by which the 
work has been done. H. Stewart. 
Macon County, N. C . 
The Opossum as a Chicken Thief. 
Llano, Texas. — To add to your notes on this subject, I 
send clipping irGxn our town paper: "B. Lange is a 
champion opossum killer, but he don't always kill. _ He 
overtook one raiding his chicken roost Monday night, 
beat it to jelly, and left it on the wayside for dead. Un- 
derstanding the traits of the animal, that he does not 
always appear to be what he really is, he concluded to 
shoot it, so took his lantern, and while one of his folks 
held it by the tail, he placed the muzzle of the gun close to 
its 'possumly breast and pulled the trigger. But presto ! 
change! The 'possum had vanished away like the pris- 
matic tints of the rainbow. In common parlance, he had 
vamoosed. How.it was done he is unable to say; but it 
is certain that Lange and the 'possum in a one-act tragedy 
before the footlights, would make a hit, for their magic 
would surpass Hermann himself." 
I have captured many 'possums in hen houses, trees, un- 
der rocks and other places, but can any of your many 
readers explain what went with this 'possum? Mr. Lange 
is a straight man and what he says is sure to be correct. 
He is much woried over the incident, because he thinks 
lie tried to capture a spirit. J. H. Carter. 
An Elephant's Memory* 
Memory is usually the strongest point with an elephant, 
and an amusing instance of this quality was recently told 
us by an indigo planter, whose veracity we have no reason 
to doubt. Some twenty-five years ago our friend bought a 
fine female elephant. Shortly after, his purchase pro- 
duced a fine calf of her own sex, and both mother and 
daughter throve exceedingly ; the latter as she grew up 
becoming a regular domestic pet. and being allowed into 
the dining room at dessert and fed on fruit and biscuits. 
Both the young one and her mother were then sent off 
to another factory belonging to the same concern, a good 
many miles away, and remained there for twenty years or 
more. After that the youngster, now a fine and well- 
grown animal, was brought back to her birthplace. Im- 
m.ediately, remembering the dainties of her babyhood, she 
made a valiant attempt to get into the dining room. Un- 
fortunately, the verandah round the house was rather a 
low one, and the elephant had not allowed for her increase 
in stature in the meantime. The result was a shower of 
about half a ton of masonry, and very frightened dusty 
miller of an elephant, who bolted tail on end doWn the 
nearest road for two or three miles. — The Asian, 
Quicker than Ligrhtningf*** 
Plainfield, Mass. — There is a red squirel living on the 
Mill Brook in this town, which beats all records for speed. 
Old Joe Beasley says he saw the critter running down the 
big maple when lighting struck the tree, and he kept ahead 
all the way to the ground ! > C. H. 
All communications intended for Forest and Stream shoald 
always be addressed to the Forest and Stream Publishing Co., New 
York, and not to any individual connected with the paper. 
The Deer of America. 
Of the three volumes for the American Sportsman's 
Library, edited by Caspar Whitney, which have appeared! 
during 1902, that on the "Deer Family" will, of course,, 
seem to big-game . hunters by far the most important. 
There is cause enough for this feeling in its title, but 
when in addition the papers which it contains are by 
such men as Theodore Roosevelt, T. S. Van Dyke, D. G, 
Elliot and A. J. Stone, there is a special reason for this 
interest. The four writers for the volume of about 330 
pages contribute to it in unequal sections. Mr. Roose- 
velt's portion furnishes about one-half the book, Mr. 
Van Dyke about 100 pages, Mr. Elliot 30 and Mr. Stone 
about the same amount. Each of the contributors has 
done his work well and interestingly, and no big-game 
hunter can afford to be without this volume in his 
Pbrary. 
Perhaps the most important portion of the whole vol- 
ume is Mr. Roosevelt's introductory chapter of twenty- 
seven pages, in which he sets forth with great force and 
earnestness the value of big game to our people at large 
and the advantages to be gained from following it, and 
hence the importance of preserving this big game, not 
necessarily so that it may be killed, but in order that 
it may serve as an incentive to men to lead wholesome 
outdoor lives. Incidentally, he points out, as he has 
done before in written and spoken word, that proper game 
laws are essentially democratic, that is, are in the inter- 
ests of the people as a whole, because it is only through 
their enactment and enforcement that the peopl'e as a 
whole can preserve the game and can prevent its becom- 
ing purely the property of the rich, who are able to create 
and maintain extensive private preserves. The very 
wealthy man can be certain to have hunting, but the man 
of small means is dependent solely upon wise and well- 
executed game laws for his enjoyment of the sturdy 
pleasure of the chase. Surely this is good doctrine, and 
doctrine to which every intelligent man can subscribe. 
It would be hard to find a stronger and more effective 
sermon in flavor of intelligent game legislation than is 
offered in these ringing words of the President. 
The same; thought — and it is well that it should be 
often repeated — occurs elsewhere, when he says: "If we 
are really alive to our opportunities under our democratic, 
social, and political system, we can keep for ourselves — 
and by 'ourselves' I mean the enormous bulk of men 
whose means range from the moderate to very small — 
ample opportunity for the enjoyment of hunting and 
shooting, of vigorous and blood-stirring out-of-doors 
sport. If we fail to talce advantage of our possibilities, if 
we fair to pass, in the interest of all, wise game laws, and 
to see that these game laws are properly enforced, we 
will then have to thank ourselves if in the future the 
game is only found in the game preserves of the wealthy;: 
and imder such circumstances only these same wealthy- 
people will have the chance to hunt it." 
Beside this introductory chapter, those of tlie first sec- 
tion of the book treat of the "Mule Deer or Rocky Moun- 
tain Blacktail," the "Whitetail Deer," the "Prong-Horned 
Antelope" and the "Wapiti," Or round-horned elk. Mr. 
Roosevelt very wisely does not attempt to deal with the 
various species and races of the different groups of deer 
found in America. That is something for the syste- 
raatists to do; and as yet the systematists are hardly 
agreed among themselves as to the species or sub-species 
in the different. groups. Or the names of each. What he 
docs is to give clear ideas of the ways and habits of the 
different forms of deei- and the different modes of hunting 
them, and this is done very largely by the relation of his 
own experiences in the West and elsewhere. 
Few things are more interesting than to observe the 
very different conclusions concerning an animal or its 
habits which will be- dra-wn by two different observers, 
whose experience, powers of observation and honesty are 
perhaps the same. It ife interesting to note that Mr. 
Roosevelt considers that^the chase of the wapiti and the 
mule deer calls for morfe hardihood, power of endurance 
and moral and physical soundness than that of the white- 
tail deer. There are luany old hunters who would scarcely 
assent to this, biit adrhitting its truth, there comes in, of 
course, the question of ikill — here "stealth and noiseless- 
ness" among other qualities — which, practiced success- 
fully, is in many instances the chief pleasure of the chase. 
The man who accomplishes something which requires real 
skill in the performance is likely to be better satisfied with 
himself, and to take more pleasure in his feat, than he 
who performs, an 'act requiring only strength and endur- 
ance. There are many hunters we fancy who will con- 
tend that still-hunting— i. e., tracking or stalking — the 
whitetail is the most difficult big-game hunting of Amer- 
ica, except possibly stalking the moose. We should be 
inclined to consider the whitetail deer the hardest of the 
North American deer to hunt. 
Of course these are only matters of taste. One man 
may think that the pear is the best of fruits^ while an- 
other may prefer the peach. 
W^e read with special interest the chapter on "The 
Prong Horned Antelope," that extraordinary species con- 
cerning whose habits too niuch cannot be known. _ We are 
glad to see that Mr. Roosevelt" refet-s to the extraordi- 
nary abundance of the antelope in old times, when in' 
traveling across the prairies, or over the great tablelands 
of the central plateau, antelope seemed almost as abun- 
dant as buffalo used to be, herd after herd appearing as 
each succeeding rise of the prairie was crossed; and ' 
in winter when the animals were bunched up on the win- 
ter range they commonly appeared in close herds, remind- | 
ing one of the flocks of domestic sheep of to-day. This 
is a matter that has been overlooked by most writers. 
Beside the active pleasure to be felt by each big-game 
hunter in the matter contained in Mr. Roosevelt's con- | 
tributions to this volume, is the elterm of his literary \ 
style. This means only that he writes with strong feeling , 
about the sport that he is describing, and that he thus , 
